Basement Excavations, Fit Outs And Renovations

 Once you have these in place, you are ready to start your project. At Essex and London Construction, we ensure the site safety and security of your home or business, by hoarding the relevant sections of the property undergoing the basement conversion. This also allows our building team to display the relevant statutory documents for your basement conversion, such as an F10 HSE project notification form and safety information pertaining to the project if relevant.

  A typical basement excavation at Essex and London Construction will feature digging, which our builders commence by firstly forming the front light well. Our construction company then break through to the main body of the house. On average, the full footprint of a Victorian terrace house would be roughly 70m2. At Essex and London Construction, the basement excavation dig-out would take approximately 2-3 months. This would consist of forming light wells to the rear as well as the front of the property.

Our building team then come to the waterproofing stage of your basement excavation. This is one of the most important elements of your basement renovation, as this is what keeps your basement conversion dry and free from water ingress. The water proof system we use for our basement construction projects is manufactured by a company called Delta. The materials our construction team supply, create a cavity drainage membrane made of a polymer plastic. The whole basement structure is then wrapped in this material, with a slightly thicker membrane placed on the floor, so water that runs down the wall can then run along channels in the floor.   

The basement excavation floor channels then feed into 4 inch drain pipes, placed in the slab before our construction builders pour cement. The drainage then runs into sumps, with the Delta high level pumps pumping any water in the soil around the building out into the main drainage system. There are two types of pumps used when creating basements for occupation, these consist of a ground water pump, which only pumps away ground and grey water, plus a foul water pump. A foul water pump has a macerater inside and your basement would usually have both types of pump installed, if having a bathroom or utility room in your basement conversion.  

Once all drainage is finished and signed off by Delta who provide an installation guarantee certificate, Essex and London Construction move on to the basement fit out stage. This is often the most exciting part for our Clients, as this is where your basement conversion really starts to take shape. The first stage of the fit out element of a basement renovation, is applying the floor insulation and a damp proof membrane (DPM). The DPM membrane, underfloor heating, wall linings, plumbing and electrics are all then closed up in fire proofed and plasterboard ceiling and walls, then plastered for the basements finishing. Light wells are rendered and the whole basement space is decorated. On a a 70m2 basement fit out, in addition to the 2-3 months excavation, Clients should expect the furnishing element to take a further 3 months to complete; this excludes bespoke items such as joinery.   

Once basement excavation and fit out works have completed and Essex and London Construction have obtained electrical, gas, fire system and air conditioning commissioning certificates, work can then be signed off by a Building Control Inspector. You will then receive all paper work in the form of a health and safety file and operations and maintenance manual, for your newly formed and fitted out basement conversion.